Share via


Using the command-based script host (CScript.exe)

Cscript.exe is a command-line version of the Windows Script Host that provides command-line options for setting script properties.

With Cscript.exe, you can run scripts by typing the name of a script file at the command prompt. Like Microsoft Internet Explorer, Windows Script Host serves as a controller of Windows Script compliant scripting engines, but Windows Script Host has very low memory requirements. Windows Script Host is ideal for both interactive and non-interactive scripting needs, such as logon scripting and administrative scripting.

Windows Script Host supports scripts written in VBScript or JScript. When you start a script from your desktop or from the command prompt, the script host reads and passes the specified script file contents to the registered script engine. The script engine uses file extensions (that is, .vbs for VBScript and .js for JScript) to identify the script. As a result, you do not need to know the exact programmatic identifier (that is, the ProgID) of the script engine. The script host maintains a mapping of script extensions to programmatic identifiers, and uses the Windows XP association model to start the appropriate engine for a given script. For more information about Windows Script Host, see Windows Script Host For more information about CScript.exe, see To run scripts using the command-line-based script host (cscript.exe)